1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



147 



them, bad as the season was last year, at the 

 usual time. They are a bright, crimson scarlet, 

 of medium size, and ripei\ all around to the stem, 

 having no hard lump as is too often the case. 

 Still, after all ray care, year after year, some plants 

 will yield small, round ones, showing a constant 

 disposition to go back to the original wild state. 

 Early Corn. 



Some one introduced into the neighborhood a 

 variety of sweet corn that should have a place in 

 every good garden. If planted with thtf earliest 

 of common varieties it will come in six to ten 

 days ahead. It is very sweet, but small, the ears 

 never exceeding six inches in length ; therefore, 

 should only be ])lanted for the first ten days' use. 

 My journal for last year reads thus : Planted, 

 May 18t.h ; spindled, July 3d ; silked, July loth ; 

 pulled for table, Aug. 3d ; cut up perfectly ripe 

 for seed, Aug. 15th. 



Beans. 



I have found an early bean that pleases me very 

 much. It ripens ten days before the earliest that 

 I can find in the seed stores. It has the most 

 beautiful foliage of any bean that I am acquaint- 

 ed with, the leaves being large, very dark green, 

 and corrugated along the ribs. A short, thick 

 bush, and when quite small, it sends up above 

 the leaves a spike of flowers on which the first 

 pods* grow ; after these they grow amongst the 

 branches like others. It does not make a great 

 yield, if left to seed, but if picked for the table 

 is very prolific. It was planted, side by side, with 

 the long yellow six weeks. Record says : Plant- 

 ed, May 18th ; pod full size, July 6th ; gathered 

 for seed, Aug. 1st; Threshed, Aug. 11th; Long 

 yellow six weeks : Planted May 18th ; pod full 

 size, July 16th ; pulled for seed, Aug. 10th ; just 

 ten days difi"erence. 



Peas. 



I have been growing a pea the last two years 

 that 1 think strange has not been introduced to 

 the public before. It was sent from Maine to a 

 friend. It is really a bush pea, and wants but one 

 stalk in a foot ; this will fill the row one foot wide 

 and one foot high, each" stalk bearing from 40 to 

 50 pods, held firmly above ground. It is not 

 early as will be seen below. The pea is of the 

 largest size, sweet as the Champion, without its 

 tough skin. In 1862,1 got 50 peas, planted them 

 one foot apart ; lost eight by cut worms and other 

 casualties ; saved the whole for seed ; planted 

 them last year aitd got 2^ bushels of dry seed, 

 losing about the same per centage of plants as in 

 the first 50 ; a rate of increase not easily sur- 

 passed. They were planted April 15th ; full 

 grown, July 7th ; gathered for seed, July 21st. 



Now I do not desire to go into the seed busi- 

 ness, nor to humbug the community with a tree 

 corn, or a Rohan potato speculation, but feeling 

 it wrong to let good things run out by neglect, as 

 they too often do, I have, by request of Messrs. 

 Hovey & Co., of Boston, raised some seed of the 

 tomatoes, corn and peas for their seed -store. I 

 shall plant all the beans I have of the kind men- 

 tioned above. If any one can beat the vegetables 

 I have described, please let it be known, or if 

 there are good things not generally known, of 

 any of the various things "wanted in a good gar- 

 den, let us know it and raise seed enough to give 

 them a start. 



One thing I have tried to do, that is to get 

 more hardy, early and reliable melons. I have 

 taken great pains, but am not satisfied with the 

 result. They will have" strange freaks. Perhaps 

 some one is jjlanting year after year just what we 

 want, and does not know its value to others, or 

 will not take the trouble to introduce it. This 

 should not be. We should compare notes, and 

 the one that has got the best should make it 

 known and let it come out. Caleb Bates. 



Kingston, Mass., March, 1864. 



Remarks. — The suggestions made by our cor- 

 respondent are excellent, and should be regarded 

 by all. He sent us some of the peas last year 

 which he speaks of, but they came too late to se- 

 cure a fair trial. We intend to try the tomatoes 

 and beans. 



TOBACCO CUIiTUHE. 

 In answer to various inquiries in relation to the 

 cultivation of Tobacco, we have prepared the fol- 

 lowing article on the subject, though we have 

 never had any- experience in it, and are obliged to 

 rely entirely on the statements of others. There 

 is no question that the culture of this plant is 

 profitable, and for that reason the farmers of New 

 England will give it thoughtful attention. For 

 ourselves, we have serious doubts about turning 

 our lands to the production of an article whose 

 use is needless if not positively deleterious, and 

 we shall not wish to be understood, in publishing 

 this article, as advocating the culture of tobacco. 

 Soil and its Preparation. 



The soil best adapted to the Tobacco plant, is 

 a light, rich, sandy loam, and if possible newly 

 cleared. Next*to this, old ground highly ma- 

 nured, and well pulverized. The exposure should 

 be warm, and a good degree of moisture secured, 

 though wet, springy land is to be avoided. 

 The Plant Bed 



Should be on newly-cleared land, as the young 

 plants will be much less troubled with weeds and 

 grass. It should be highly manured with strong 

 manure, well worked in, and made fine to the 

 depth of six inches or more. For convenience of 

 weeding, the bed should be not more three or four 

 feet wide. Sow to a square rod of ground a 

 table spoonful of seed, mixed with plaster, to se- 

 cure even sowing, and roll or tread the bed. The 

 sowing should be done as early as possible, after 

 the danger of a hard frost has passed. It is a 

 good plan to throw over the bed a covering of 

 brush, which helps retain the moisture in the soil, 

 is a safe-guard against frost, and also a protection 

 to the young plants against the intense heat which 

 sometimes attend our spring suns at noonday. 

 As soon as weeds appear they should be removed. 

 This is an important operation, and cannot be at- 

 tended to too early or too carefuUv. 



